Cycling: Welsh rider recalls Tour high point

GERAINT Thomas might have scaled the heights of the mountains at the Tour de France, but the highlight for him was finishing runner-up on the cobbled stage which wreaked havoc among the race favourites.

GERAINT Thomas might have scaled the heights of the mountains at the Tour de France, but the highlight for him was finishing runner-up on the cobbled stage which wreaked havoc among the race favourites.

The Maindy Flyers and Cardiff Jif product captured the headlines after making it into an elite group which contained world and Olympic time trial champion Fabian Cancellara, world road champion Cadel Evans and sprint king Thor Hushovd.

Thomas didn’t have the sprint to out-pace Norwegian powerhouse Hushovd, who won the green points jersey at last year’s Tour, but his performance told him he could mix it with the best on the road.

“It was a really big important stage, and to be up there in the front group with Fabian, who’s a bit of a legend in the sport, Cadel and Thor, who’s won loads of stages on the Tour, was unbelievable,” said Thomas.

“It was just a great day and something I will remember for a long time.”

Thomas wore the white jersey as the best under-25 rider and was second overall in the race for a number of days before, as expected, falling away when the race hit the daunting slopes of the high mountains in the Alps.

“They are a different kettle of fish. The other day we had about 60km (about 38mls) of climbing uphill,” he said.

“You get a bit of a numb feeling at the end of the day. You get up the next day and you are still sore. Your bum is a bit uncomfortable and your hands are aching.

“The flag goes down and you start racing again. You forget about all the aches and pains and you go up the mountains again.

“Everyone is cheering you, it’s boiling hot, your feet are swollen and hurting in your shoes. You have got a sore back – everyone is just struggling up the mountains.”

Thomas also enjoyed the high-octane sprint finishes, banging elbows and shoulders with rivals as he acted as a lead-out man for Team Sky sprinter Edvald Boasson Hagen and jostled to put the Norwegian in the best possible position to take on the Tour’s fastest sprinters, who were headed by Britain’s Mark Cavendish.

“That was good fun. I always like a good sprint. It’s like going battle, to war,” joked Thomas.

He will concentrate on the road next year before returning to the track for the 2012 London Olympics.

Thomas left Paris after completing the Tour’s 3,642km (2,275mls) and its 20 stages content with his efforts.

“I definitely didn’t suffer as much as I did in 2007, which was definitely a bonus,” quipped Thomas.

“I feel like I have been recovering really well and I still feel like I could get up tomorrow and race quite comfortably really.”

Thomas was fifth in the opening prologue time trial over 8km, a fraction of a second behind seven-time race winner Lance Armstrong, and 10th in the final stage against the clock, over 52km, finishing ahead of eventual race winner Alberto Contador and all the other general classification contenders apart from Sky leader Bradley Wiggins.

Thomas was the second best of the seven British finishers in this year’s three-week epic in 67th – Wiggins came in a disappointing 24th after equalling Scottish climber Robert Millar’s best British finish of fourth 12 months earlier – to earn widespread accolades from the sport’s experts.

Next targets for him are the world championships in Australia in October and the Commonwealth Games in India.

It will be the first time for Thomas to don Welsh colours since picking up a bronze medal on the track in Melbourne four years ago.

“The road race in Delhi will be hard to do well because it’s a pan-flat course,” he said.